Incubator lost power

[pjenkin3]

I came home and checked the incubator and it seems the cats pulled the plug on my incubator. The temp was in the seventies the eggs had been in there for about a week. Will they still hatch or or it a lost cause?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Plug the incubator back in and candle the eggs tomorrow. You should see the heartbeat or the embryo moving around.

 

[silkie1472]

I came home and checked the incubator and it seems the cats pulled the plug on my incubator. The temp was in the seventies the eggs had been in there for about a week. Will they still hatch or or it a lost cause?

I know this post is old (regarding the subject), but were the embryos still good?

Depending on how long the incubator was unplugged greatly determines the survival of the embryos. If it was just a few hours to a day, the embryos should be fine being they are so young (believe it or not). However, once development starts, and a heartbeat is present, you are dealing with a real bird. Major temperature changes can be detrimental.

Look forward to hearing back!

 

[Birdinhand]

eggs can go into a dormant state, presumably they evolved this ability so the hen could leave the nest if in danger and not attract a predator back to them. it's best if the temperature drops rather than hovers near incubation temps. dropping into the 70's should simply delay hatch by the number of hours the incubator was unplugged. many people have had success with as much as a 12 hour power outage. it happened to us and the hatch rate was about the same % as normal.

 

[pjenkin3]

I know this post is old (regarding the subject), but were the embryos still good?

Depending on how long the incubator was unplugged greatly determines the survival of the embryos. If it was just a few hours to a day, the embryos should be fine being they are so young (believe it or not). However, once development starts, and a heartbeat is present, you are dealing with a real bird. Major temperature changes can be detrimental.

Look forward to hearing back!

the first time it happened they were fine. the second time I checked after a while and I saw no signs of life in any eggs

 

[silkie1472]

eggs can go into a dormant state, presumably they evolved this ability so the hen could leave the nest if in danger and not attract a predator back to them. it's best if the temperature drops rather than hovers near incubation temps. dropping into the 70's should simply delay hatch by the number of hours the incubator was unplugged. many people have had success with as much as a 12 hour power outage. it happened to us and the hatch rate was about the same % as normal.

I hate that I’m just now getting back on to see this. This is very true to an extent. In fact, many newer, advanced incubators have what’s called a cooling feature on them, allowing the eggs to cool off to low to mid 70s. This is meant to simulate the mother hen leaving the nest anywhere from 1-4 hours, with best results around 1-2 hours depending on the species.

The younger the embryo, though, the more delicate it is. Cooling eggs is not recommended for eggs that have not been incubated at least 24 hours — preferably longer. The reason is because it gives the embryo plenty of time to start developing, getting stronger in case of a tragic event such as power loss. Older embryos, though, have been known to be able to survive for several hours without power to the incubator.